Project 2: Ball Game Remix

Final Submission Due: Week 6 Thursday, November 7

Prompt

Adapt one of the following ball-based games into a digital game.

• Ball-and-net sports (tennis, volleyball)
• Ball-and-wall sports (squash, racketball, handball)
• Throwing sports (Bocce Ball, dodgeball, bowling, skee ball)
• Tabletop sports (Billiards, Pool, Foosball, Air hockey)
• Beigoma / Beyblade
• Golf
• Pinball / Bagatelle
• Pachinko

... AND add an interesting twist to your game.

Requirements

Project 2 contains THREE COMPONENTS:

• PART 1 (5%): BALL GAME RESEARCH
  Due: Week 4 Tuesday, October 22
  Do some research about the game you have chosen, and bring your notes to class for discussion. (Refer below for research topics to cover.)
• PART 2 (5%): PROTOTYPE PLAYTEST
  Due: Week 5 Thursday, October 31
  Bring a prototype of your project to class -- we will be playtesting each others' projects. Prioritise core mechanics for player interaction and level design, placeholder visuals and playing from the Unity Editor are ok at this stage.
• PART 3 (15%): FINAL PROJECT BUILD WITH DOCUMENTATION
  Due: Week 6 Thursday, November 7
  Refer to final submission requirements and submission guidelines, then submit your final project.

Total contribution to final course grade: 25%

Ball Game Research

After picking a ball game to adapt for Project 2, do some research about the game you have chosen, considering the following questions:

Environment

• What are the physical properties of the game environment (e.g. the ball, the play surface)?
• What are the affordances (opportunities for interaction or game mechanics) of the game environment?
• Are there any properties or affordances that are unusual or that you didn't expect?

Body

For the actual physical game:

• What tools or appendages are used to play the actual physical game?
• What are the properties and affordances of those tools?
• Are there any properties or affordances that are unusual or unexpected?

For your digital game:

• What tools or appendages does the player use to play your digital game?
• What are the properties and affordances of those tools?
• What ways can you think of adapting the physical affordances and properties to the digital?
• What are some affordances that only the digital game can have?

Mind

• What are the rules of your game? How does play proceed? Consider drawing a flow chart.
• How is your game scored? Does it have an unusual or idiosyncratic scoring system, like Golf or Tennis?
• Research the strategy of your game. Are there certain rules of thumb that players follow to succeed in the game?
• What decisions is a skilled player making on a moment to moment basis, and why?
• What resources does a skilled player manage during the game? stamina? number of shots left?

Prototype Playtest

If this is your first time running a playtest, I recommend reading this set of suggestions and guidelines beforehand to have some idea of what to expect.

When showing your piece, consider the following:

1. what you'd like to learn from this playtest -- what questions or concerns would you like addressed from this test?
2. what sort of information you'd like playtesters to have before / while / after interacting with your project (description, instructions, game rules, specific aspects you'd like feedback on.)
   
   You may benefit from a cold read of your project (i.e. playtesters will enter your project with minimal to no prior briefing.) You may choose to reveal your intentions at the end to see how they compare with playtesters' "authentic" responses to your project.
3. be prepared to take notes on how playtesters respond to your project (including their behaviours and emotions while playing the game -- not just verbal comments!)

Some general guidelines for playtesting projects:

• one speaker at a time; be mindful of taking space and making space for others.
• critique the work, not the artist.
• use "i" statements.
• think out loud while playing the project.
• avoid judgemental comments like "i like..." or "i don't like..."; instead: describe, analyse, and interpret -- tell us what you see, and explain how that shapes your experience of the project.
• try to break the project -- catch any bugs or loopholes you can find!
• consider where the artist would like to go from here, and how they can pursue their goals.

Final Submission

Your final project should have the following elements:

Physics

Your game must use the Rigidbody component to simulate physics-based motion and collision.

• Experiment with the mass, drag, and angular drag of the ball to obtain results appropriate for your sport. A bowling ball has very different properties than a ping pong ball!
• Use Rigidbody.AddForce or Rigidbody.AddForceAtPosition to adjust velocity. Consider when to use the different force modes: Force, Acceleration, Impulse, VelocityChange
• Use OnCollisionEnter to detect when objects collide, and play appropriate sounds
• Use OnTriggerEnter to detect when objects enter an area, such as a scoring zone or an out-of-bounds zone.

Gameplay

Your game should keep track of one or more player's score. Scores should be determined more or less according to the rules of the game you are adapting.

Consider how your game mechanics and level design can offer different strategic options and play experiences.

For example, you could research how factors like spin or tilt affect the game you are adapting, and consider whether your game should include a way for players to spin the ball or tilt the playing area.

You could also explore how different terrains for your playing field can affect the gameplay.

See examples of ping pong variations by Laurent Perbos, Gabriel Orozco, and Lee Wen. How would these tables change the experience of playing table tennis?

What other affordances can digital games offer beyond changing the shape of the playing field? Animated obstacles? AIs? Alternative control schemes? Genre mashups?

If you're making a multiplayer game, you could consider what type of social mechanics you'd like your players to have.

Interaction Design

Translating the nuances of a sport to a digital game is a complex challenge.

Players of real-life games like tennis are able to control the velocity and spin of their of the ball with subtle changes to how they strike the ball with the racquet. Traditional game controls, whether it's a gamepad or mouse and keyboard, don't usually offer this level of control!

Consider how you allow the player to interact with the ball in 3D space.

How would you design an interface for your game that feels expressive and true to the original sport? How do existing games manage this complexity?

For instance, there are many different examples of how tennis can be adapted to the screen:

Pong presents a top-down view of the court. The ball moves in straight lines, and bounces off the sides of the screen.

The player controls one of two paddles, which can only move on the vertical axis. Pong is all about positioning, the ball bounces off the paddle without extra input from the player.

Visual Communication

Consider the look and feel of your game, including lighting, materials, and more. If you wish, you may use 2D or 3D assets to compose your scene.

Use visual elements to communicate the state of the game to the player.

Lines, meters, and arrows, can be useful for indicating aim, force, spin, and more.

Particle effects or a trail renderer can help draw attention to a fast moving object.

Sound

Don't forget that sound can be a powerful communication tool, and can help make a game feel more expressive.

Consider increasing the volume and pitch of a sound effect based on how hard the ball collides with another object, or consider giving moving objects a "whoosh" sound that changes pitch and volume according to the object's speed.

Evaluation

Your final project will be evaluated according to the guidelines listed in the course syllabus.